Asia leads mobile ad spend globally

According to findings from mobile advertising company Smaato, 2010 saw Japanese companies invest more than US$1 billion in this business followed by South Korea and China ($270 million and $180 million respectively). In Asia more than 15 billion page impressions are being generated on a daily basis in mobile.

“In 2011 mobile apps will continue to surprise the media; new smartphones and tablet PCs are enhancing our daily digital lives. With new innovations like LTE broadband bandwidth, NFC smartphones and more relevant mobile ad formats we will see a dramatic lift off in global Mobile Advertising,” said Harald Neidhardt, CMO and co-founder, Smaato Inc.

Smaato gathered market data for the three strongest regions in mobile marketing: the USA, Europe and Asia. The trends show market analysis published by leading market research companies.

In 2010, the iTunes Store tippled its offering of mobile applications and the Android market was established as the second largest app store. Android bypassed Apple with a market share of 25 per cent (Apple 17 per cent) and is now the second largest OS behind Symbian (37 per cent) according to Morgan Stanley.

The growth of mobile as an established media channel will continue the next couple of years. Other key findings from Smaato are that the US is the second largest market globally in terms of mobile advertising spending behind Japan. It will close the gap next year with a forecast of $1,24 billion and will grow up to $5 billion in 2015.